Planning reforms attacked, moving house and ending boom and bust

A report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says the housing market needs reforming to avoid another boom and bust. Photograph: Micha Theiner / Rex Features

Government planning reforms attacked

As the localism bill reaches the report stage in the House of Commons today, Labour's shadow local government minister, Jack Dromey, has spoken out against government plans to overhaul the planning structure, claiming it will lead to "stasis is the planning system". Labour has had its final chance to change the bill, filing amendments that would ensure the survival of the strategic planning system, which also provides for transport, infrastructure and housing amongst other services. While Dromey accepted the previous government's planning strategies were in need of improvement, he said: "The government's plans will deliver chaos … their plans for local involvement are half-baked."

London associations to pilot social mobility scheme

London's G15 have set up a pilot scheme allowing their tenants to move into more suitable homes, particularly when their work forces them to move. The scheme is designed to promote social mobility among their tenants. The pilot includes a website where, after registration and eligibility checks, tenants will be able to bid for properties. Each housing association under the G15 umbrella has pledged to devote 5% of their empty properties to the scheme, which should provide 190 homes a year. The chief executive of the National Housing Federation, David Orr, welcomed the pilot. "Housing associations will always provide safe, decent and attractive housing but we also offer practical support to residents to 'move on' in life and I am delighted that this pilot is about to take off," he said.

Urgent reform needed to stop boom and bust

A report, Tackling Housing Market Volatility in the UK, has concluded that the housing market is in dire need of reform to increase its stability and avoid another boom and bust. The report, devised by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, includes Affinity Sutton's chief executive Keith Exford, and Kate Barker, former member of the Bank of England monetary policy committee. It concludes that increasing the number of new homes will need to be used in conjunction with a number of other changes to ease market instability. Further suggestions including credit restrictions on maximum loan-to-value mortgage ratios, increasing the amount of social housing with secure tenancies, stamp duty overhaul and council tax re-definition as property tax, would all contribute to an easing of market volatility. The report went on to say that borrowers needed more support.

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